ARTICLES ABOUT DEBIT CARD BY DATE - PAGE 3

Boca Raton police say a Nordstrom employee snatched almost $600 worth of shoes only to return them at her own register for money. Police came to Nordstrom at about 4 p.m. Monday and arrested Carissa Lashae Mullins, 22, of Delray Beach , after an investigation by a loss-prevention officer discovered the shoe department employee made four fake returns starting on May 14, according to a Boca Raton Police arrest report. The amount stolen added up to $593.45. Loss prevention said it was Mullins' multiple refunds that flagged a reporting system, which led the loss-prevention officer to watch Mullins as she picked random shoes, headed back to her register, made the returns, then put the money on her debit card.

Last May, Michael Cripps walked into a Sarasota County sheriff's office and confessed to stealing scholarship money raised by the Englewood Masonic Lodge, according to an arrest affidavit. The money had been raised by the Englewood Masonic Lodge to benefit Lemon Bay High School seniors to help them pay for their tuition. Cripps was the Trustee of the Masonic Lodge and the only person with access to the scholarship account, deputies said. Investigators stated that the thefts started in July 2007, when Cripps swiped $1,500 from the account.

A crafty crook is being sought for using stolen debit card information to withdraw nearly $5,000 from the victim's bank account, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. It happened around 2 p.m. on April 19 in the Wal-Mart at 2300 W. Atlantic Blvd., in Pompano Beach, detectives said. The surveillance video clearly shows the suspect walking into the store wearing dark pants, a white shirt and a tie. He walks up to the customer service counter and uses the debit card to buy $4,800 worth of money orders and then withdraws $100 in cash.

A suspected ATM skimming ring that involved Romanians targeting bank machines across Florida has lead agents to another suspect, according to federal court documents. Nicu Calin, 43, was arrested in California on June 7, the same day he was scheduled to fly back to Romania, according to documents filed in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. Calin is accused of being part of a group of Romanian nationals that installed debit card-skimming devices at SunTrust ATMs across the state, including Palm Beach County , according to a criminal complaint.

A 29-year-old Delray Beach man accused of stealing a $20 bill and a debit card from an unlocked car and spending $200 at a local gas station and McDonald's said he had permission from the card's owner, police said. But the 69-year-old victim, who lives in the 1100 block of West Circle Terrace, told police he had never seen Antonio Francisco Caudillo before and had "absolutely no idea who he was," according to a Delray Beach police arrest report. Caudillo said he used the man's money and card on May 4 to buy breakfast a McDonald's, police said.

Here's the latest twist in criminal distracting techniques: Use prayer to prey on a victim. Deputies say a woman was approached by another woman, later identified as Alicia Sportelli, in the parking lot of a Bradenton Walgreens. The woman became concerned for Sportelli's well-being and, as they spoke to each other, they then began to pray, according to an arrest affidavit from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. But while the 61-year-old woman prayed Sportelli suddenly fled.

Detectives busted Mary Scalise on charges of Fraud, Grand Theft and Money Laundering, accusing her of repeatedly defrauding her employer, Orange Industrial Services, located in Davenport -- to the tune of $186,943.27 over two years, according to a news release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Scalise, the office manager, had access to a debit card attached to the business's bank account. When the owners of the Davenport business discovered Scalise had been using the debit card to conduct numerous unauthorized personal charges, they called deputies, the release stated.

Could this trend be heading to South Florida soon? Some taxi cabs in New Orleans are now sporting vending machines for beverages, the non-alcoholic kind that is. New Orleans Carriage Cab is now giving passenger the opportunity to quench their thirsts while en route to their destinations by offering five different soft drink choices for 99 cents each, the company said in a release Tuesday. With just a click of a button, passengers can...

A West Palm Beach man faces a maximum of 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing tax refund checks. Jeanson Pata, 31, of West Palm Beach, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn to two counts of theft of government money, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release. According to court documents, Pata was arrested after giving his cousin and co-defendant, Fednol Pierre, his SunTrust Bank debit card and PIN in May 2010. Pierre deposited two stolen refund checks, totaling $14,078, into Pata's checking account in May and June of that year.

Six Broward County men are accused of running a debit-card skimming operation that targeted bank machines in a dozen cities throughout Florida and stole information from more than 400 bank customers. Three of the suspects were arrested Friday while three remaining suspects were still at large Tuesday, including one man who was arrested on a similar state charges and released on bond last week. In all, federal officials say the men skimmed card information from bank machines in 12 cities including Plantation, Naples, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach , Bal Harbour, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and St. Petersburg.